The Kitsune Spirit's Trap
by SeeMyEvil
Summary: Against her will, Chihiro is forced back into the Spirit World by the cruel Kitsune Spirit and finds herself in a dire situation. With no idea where she is and only her human survival instinct urging her on, will she be able to find her way back home? Especially as some of her friends here really don't want her to go...


**The Kitsune Spirit's Trap**

Haku smiled as he looked up, seeing Chihiro's face through the water of his river. She tentatively reached out a hand and pressed it to the slow-moving surface of water, expecting to feel cold but instead being met with warmth. She smiled back, sensing his happiness in her touch. She had been coming back here every time her parents drove to visit their friends; she always took the first chance she had to visit her best friend once they arrived. It was not the same part of the river he had saved her in as a small child, but much further upstream near where it came down the mountain—Chihiro did not care how far she had to go to feel his presence again.

Since leaving the bathhouse and the Spirit World, Chihiro had begun to feel even more that she was missing out on something. Not only did she have to adjust to a new town and school, but also to a new _life_. She felt as though she had entered the Spirit World as a child and returned an adult. Chihiro searched for signs of the Spirit World everywhere she went, be it a shrine like that which sat down the hill from her house, or a sudden disappearance reported in the press: _is that where they've gone_? She could not tell any more than she could before she left, and her newfound awareness only frustrated her further. Yet she did not want to return, no matter how wonderful all her Spirit friends were, she could not forget the cruelty she had seen.

And she always wondered: _what would have happened to me if I had failed Yubaba's test_?

The thought terrified her.

Still, she took comfort in Haku's fleeting presence in her life, even if it was fleeting. She took her hair out of the pink hair band Zeniba had given her and twisted it across her fingers in a crisscrossing pattern. This was the only relic she had left of her time there.

"I have to go to university in a few weeks, Haku. I don't know how much I'll be able to see of you after that." She sighed regretfully as she said this, staring into the water in hope of catching a glimpse of his face. Dragon or boy, she did not mind; she just would have found it more comforting if there was a physical form to talk to.

"Do I have to be near death to talk to you, Haku?" she grumbled. "Maybe I should just drown myself to get a reaction." The water erupted for a moment with air bubbles, and a great splash drenched Chihiro to the bone. She had angered Haku.

Chihiro pulled at her sopping clothing in distaste and opted to remove her sweater. She pushed her hair back into the hair band and wiped her face with a grimace; she knew the shot had been cheap, but still her bitterness took hold. She imagined his own cutting remark in response, berating her for her stupidity, but remembered she could not pull his voice into her mind. It had been too long since she heard it, so her mind had long ago dispensed of it.

"I can't remember what you sound like, Haku. I can only just remember what you look like, and I'm sure you're all different now. My memories are fading." She bowed her head at this, peering into the river again, once more hoping to see his face. Once again, she was disappointed. Haku would have liked to reach out his hand and slowly brush the tears from her face, but this was not a privilege that he was afforded. _She_ was very much human, and _he_ very much a Spirit. The river was the only way he could communicate with her and he now felt guilty for having splashed her. He wished he could apologise; again, this was not a privilege he was allowed.

This barrier between them was too great to overcome and Haku thought that one day she would just come to say goodbye and then never return. He felt that day was drawing near, as she warned.

"I'm going to study Mythology, actually." She looked up as she said this, taking in the familiar surroundings. There were the house shrines across the river, settled under a weeping willow, almost completely covered over in moss. Down the gradual slope rested several of these shrines, the people obviously having sensed the spiritual power in the water. Chihiro smiled; Haku was certainly powerful to stand up to Yubaba as he did. The grass she rested on grew muddier the closer to the river it got. Chihiro guessed that it had burst its banks recently before she got there. "Those shrines over there… why are they still covered in moss?" She reached out a hesitant hand into the river again. "If there got to be too much water here, those shrines would be cleaned up."

Chihiro stood, then, and moved to the rickety wooden bridge a few hundred metres upstream that had been forgotten about years ago by the local people. Only Chihiro used it now, and that was sparingly given how battered it was. She trod cautiously as she crossed it, careful to avoid the boards which looked so rotten they would break. She did not want a repeat of her experience on the way to Kamaji's boiler room. Just the thought filled her with fright.

Eventually, Chihiro crossed the bridge and walked over to the apparently impervious shrines. She tore at the moss which covered one of the tiny doorways and knelt down to look inside. For a moment, all she saw was the inside of a miniature stone house but—as if someone had pulled the curtains apart—she saw an endless sea through the opposite small doorway and a flock of birds (that were not quite birds) circling around something roiling in the water. Chihiro gasped at the sight and pulled away from the strange doorway. She failed to notice the weeping willow forming a small prison around Chihiro and the shrine, trapping her in its enchanted grip. She knelt down again, excited by the glimpse she was getting of the Spirit World that she, in a way, mourned. It was not the World she wished for, but the friends she had left behind. It comforted her as she looked through the doorway that Lin and Kamaji and Zeniba and No-Face were out there, living their lives without her. A melancholy tear came from the corner of her eye as she spied the Spirit Sea again, wondering how far off the bathhouse was. Or Swamp Bottom?

She could not see the train tracks from where she was, which probably meant that they were impossibly far away. With a sigh, she sat up from where she was kneeling and observed the sudden darkness around her. It had been before four o'clock when she arrived here, but now it looked like sunset as very little sunlight was making its way through the leaves. Chihiro stood up to go and pull the willow branches apart so that she might make a proper guess at the time. It was with a feeling of complete dread that she realised the branches could not be moved.

"Oh no, _no you don't_!" She pulled at the branches with more strength, and then all her strength as she struggled to escape. Yet it seemed the willow was determined to keep her there. "You can't do this to me! You can't keep me here!" Chihiro's nails and fingers began to bleed as she pushed more and was met with just the same resistance. She moved to another side of the prison and tore at the leaves again, to no avail. "NO!" The foliage would not even tear.

"Let me OUT!" she yelled at the wall of leaves, clenching her fists by her side. "I want to go to university! I want to live my life! Don't take this away from me!" She began to sob as said this, finally realising that whatever this willow tree wanted from her, she was not going to escape from it. She was stuck here.

"Please?" she pleaded as she sat back again, wiping her face with the damp hem of her dress. "Please can't you let me go?"

**. . .**

Haku could sense Chihiro's desperation as he left the river and looked to see what was wrong. Instead of a crying 17 year old, he saw a Spirit looking very proud of himself wrapped around the branches of the willow tree, peering through the tiniest gap in its foliage. He recognised it as a Kitsune Spirit. Haku swiftly changed back into his human form.

"Kitsune! What are you doing?" The Spirit looked up in shock at the sight of Haku, obviously so engrossed in watching Chihiro's despair that he had forgotten the river Spirit's presence.

"Playing with the human," he said with a cruel smile. The Kitsune shifted away from the tree then, jumping down from the top and releasing the branches to face Haku. Like all Kitsune, he looked very much like a fox as he walked towards Haku on all four legs. The red fur covering his body shimmered slightly in the fading light and all his four tails curled into the breeze. Haku was as tall as this Kitsune, but not nearly as formidable. However, something in the fox's appearance led Haku to believe that he was not entirely _there_. This only served to unsettle him.

"That human is my friend and I would like you to leave her alone," Haku replied with a harsh glare. He moved through the willow tree's branches, pushing them aside so as to release Chihiro from the Kitsune Spirit's trap.

**. . .**

"Please let me go, please let me go, please let me go," Chihiro murmured, over and over as she rocked backwards and forwards on the grass. She pressed her face into her crossed arms and attempted to slow her breathing. Hyperventilation, she knew, was not going to help her at all.

Suddenly, she felt herself falling through the air and then hit cold, salty water. All of the breath she had came out as she gasped at the unexpected change in temperature. She flung her arms out, hoping to grab onto something to keep afloat as she was sucked down further. Sunlight broke through the murky sea and lit the water around her. But there was nothing _to be seen_. She felt herself starting to suffocate then, the tightness in her chest making itself known in a sharp rush of pain. Survival instinct took hold as she began to kick her legs and move her arms in the swimming motion her parents had taught her shortly after her brush with death. She pushed herself up with all the strength she had left. Chihiro could almost hear her parents urging her on. "_Come on, Chihiro! You can do it! Just a little further!_"

Mercifully, she broke the surface and took in the gulp of air she had been waiting for; she knew how dangerous it could be to inhale water. As she trod water, she took in her new surroundings. Above, the sky was a cloudless, deep blue. On the western horizon, the sun was near setting and the flock of 'birds' she had seen were still circling the creature underwater. In the other direction lay yet another endless body of still water. She had been dropped into the middle of nowhere.

_WHY?_ She screamed inwardly. _WHY NOW?_

**. . .**

"Chihiro!" Haku shouted through the tiny shrine's doorway, seeing her flailing in the water, fighting for the breath she needed to take. Of course, she could not hear him; this was just a manmade window into the Spirit World now—the Kitsune's enchantment was broken. Still, he tried again. "CHIHIRO!" She broke the surface of the water then and turned around as if she _had_ heard him. He saw the fear wash over her face as she realised that she was far from anywhere she knew, and there was no way out.

Haku stood up and left the cover of the willow tree to face the Kisune Spirit, but when he was free of its darkness, he saw that the Kitsune Spirit had gone.

**. . .**

"Ah, you're alive. Congratulations," said the Spirit without cheer. Chihiro looked up at the Kitsune seemingly standing on the surface of the water. But after all of the terror of her first visit here, his appearance did not shock her very much. She was used to Spirits appearing out of nowhere. She was used to the strangeness of the ways of the Spirit World.

"I don't feel very lucky," she replied, casting her eyes around the place again. There was no sign of any land at all nearby and already her muscles were straining from keeping her head above water. She decided to kick off her shoes, which reduced her weight somewhat.

"You are, really, or else you would have begun to fade by now." The Spirit moved from standing in front of Chihiro to touch the shining, pink band in her wet hair. "This is powerful magic keeping you here. I'd love to know where you got it from…" He smiled with a longing look in his eyes. "But that's no matter really, whether you're fading or not; you'll die from drowning first." Chihiro gave him a determined look.

"Not if I can find land first," she said through heavy breaths. She knew that she would have to take her dress off soon, or else it really would be impossible to go on.

"Ha! Good luck with that," the Spirit said sarcastically. "Ah, it's so _much_ fun playing with humans like this," he said wistfully, looking to the horizon. "It doesn't get to happen very often; so few people venture to the shrine that it can get incredibly boring. But I've waited for you for _years_, Chihiro, and finally—_finally_—you opened the door." He turned his intelligent eyes back to Chihiro, only to find that she had begun to swim into the east. He moved to follow her, taking pleasure in each of her panting breaths. "You've got a long way to go, Chihiro. Don't believe that you will live."

Chihiro would not deign to answer him.

"As you wish. I'll be watching…" With that, the Kitsune Spirit disappeared into the air.

Chihiro tore the dress from her body then, stripping down to her underwear. She would put her dignity aside to save her life; it was not as if Spirits would care what she was wearing anyway. The cotton dress dropped down to the bottom of the sea, delighting the tiny Spirit fish which had not had so much excitement in years. Chihiro pushed on through the pain in her muscles.

**. . .**

Haku looked around him with a desperate hand tugging at his hair. He was at a loss as for what to do. How could he help her? She could be anywhere in the Spirit World; he had absolutely _no_ idea where she was. He moved back under the willow tree and peered in again. Chihiro had started swimming away and was slowly leaving the shrine's view. At least she was surviving, he told himself. At least, for some unknown reason, she had not started to fade! This brought a reluctant smile to his face before he changed into his dragon form and flew up into the sky in the direction of the bathhouse.

Someone there might be able to help. He would not allow himself to feel the happiness bubbling in his heart. She did not want to be here, but he was pleased that she was nonetheless. He was pleased to be able to talk to her and touch her again and he knew the other Spirits in the bathhouse would be too.

But first he had to find her. Before all he wished could occur, he first had to save her life.


End file.
